Predator and Prey
by Cactus Bob
Summary: Atem comes back to life a little less than human. He finally works up the courage to tell Yugi the truth, but can Yugi overcome his past to accept Atem in spite of everything?
1. A Little Less Than Human

* * *

Yu-Gi-Oh! (c) Kazuki Takahashi

Oh, this is one of my favorite fics. This might be the best one I've ever written. I hope that you all like it as much as I do.

* * *

Two weeks. That's how long it had been since Atem had returned to life. That's how long Atem's genius-class mind had been stewing over the… accident. Yes, it was an accident in a way, one that was unexpected and had severe and debilitating consequences. But it wasn't an accident in another way, for Atem _did_ have a choice, yet it was a choice that he would never have wanted to be faced with. 

As the final move in the ceremonial duel was being made, the question facing Atem was this:

"Your life or your humanity?" the spirits of the Millennium Items asked him. Time seemed to slow, and every second passed like an hour. What would he choose? To live in the depths of the Puzzle, leeching Yugi's life while he remained a spirit forever? Or to become a creature of darkness, one that so many feared, and for good reason?

He had been asked to choose between his life and his humanity, and he had chosen to give up the existence he had known to exist as something entirely different in this world. But was it worth it? Was it worth it to come back and wonder if Yugi would ever look at him fearlessly if he knew the truth? Was it worth it to smell Yugi's blood and hear his heartbeat? Was it worth it to dream those dreams every night?

Yugi didn't know, not yet. Atem had not yet plucked up enough courage to tell him. He often envisioned and even practiced such a conversation. In fact, he was practicing at that very moment. "Yugi," Atem muttered, pacing inside his bedroom, "there's something…" He shook his head. That would make Yugi feel even more nervous than he had to.

"Yugi, when I came back to life, I…" Still wrong. It was too direct, far too direct. Atem sighed and rubbed his forehead, trying to will his brain to come up with a solution. It had to be quick, before he started imagining how Yugi would react once he found out…

Too late.

Atem lay down on his bed and covered his eyes with his arm. The darkness didn't make much of a difference—his day vision was horrible, and he relied heavily on his senses of hearing and smell. "Yugi, I need to talk to you about the day I came back to life."

"Sure, go ahead." Atem sat up in an instant and noticed Yugi standing in the doorway, holding a basket of clean clothes to be put away. They weren't as clean as they could have been: Atem could still smell the scent of flesh on them.

"Oh—Oh, Yugi, I didn't see you there," Atem said quickly.

Yugi winked at him and began to fold their laundry. "It kinda seemed like you did, considering that you were talking to me. Or were you talking to someone else named Yugi?" he asked, his eyes twinkling like little stars with amusement.

Atem looked away and cursed himself in frustration. He had been trying to find the right way to tell Yugi all of this time, but it didn't really matter. When Yugi was standing in front of him, the words disintegrated in his mouth like cotton candy. "So what were you saying about the day you came back to life?" Yugi asked. He was having trouble folding the bed sheets with his short arms, so Atem got up to help him.

"It's… it's nothing important," Atem lied.

"Then why were you talking to thin air about it?" Yugi asked wisely. Atem paused and began to feel a slight panic in his abdomen. Had Yugi begun to catch on? Yugi smiled at him. "I think I know what might be going on," Yugi said. Atem's eyes widened. How could he have known? Atem had been very, very careful not to reveal any of the signs! "You're having trouble fitting into the modern world, aren't you?"

Atem had to repress a great sigh of relief. So Yugi didn't know. But Atem knew that that wouldn't last for long. Full moon was coming in just a week, and even Atem couldn't think of a way that he could excuse himself from human company for the night. First, there was the matter of what to say to Yugi and Grandpa. Then there was the matter of where to stay so that he wouldn't be seen by delinquent teenagers or filthy derelicts. Yugi would find out, one way or another. But Atem couldn't do it just yet. He still didn't have the courage.

"There are still a lot of things about this age that I don't fully understand," Atem said, following his narrow escape. "I know that I'll get used to it in time, but… everything is so different here."

When it was required, Atem could be a master liar. But he hated lying to Yugi. And he hated being such a coward. Why couldn't he just say it? Why did he have to torture himself like this? Knowing was better than not knowing, wasn't it? He tried to say something, he physically tried, but it was as if his throat wouldn't obey his heart. He almost choked on his own failed attempt to tell the truth.

"You know that you can always ask me about anything, right?" Yugi asked, putting the now-folded sheets into a drawer. Yugi was oblivious to Atem's struggle. "I mean, I know that you like to sort of… keep a dignified appearance, but it never hurts to ask. I won't tell Joey and Tristan if it's something a little unusual."

Atem chuckled and hated himself for chuckling. Why did he have to be such a good liar? He almost wished that Yugi could look into his brain and see the truth, because his tongue wasn't obeying him. "Like when I asked you the precise purpose of the toaster?"

Yugi smiled and nodded. "You'll do fine. Everyone needs some practice before they get a hold of things." He picked up the empty laundry basket and was about to walk out, but he stopped and turned back to Atem. "By the way, Grandpa's cooking steak and baked potatoes for dinner. How do you want your steak cooked?"

"Rare," Atem answered, sinking back onto the bed. "Very rare."

* * *

Today was the day—June 29th, the evening of the full moon. Yugi and the others had just gotten out of school, the weather was getting warmer, and the days were getting longer. Children ran around in the park, making their blood run hotter and their scents smell sweeter…

"_No!" _Atem thought to himself. _"No, you can't entertain these thoughts. You need to tell Yugi the truth, and quickly, before he sees you when you can't tell him anything…"_

Atem was afraid for one of the few times in his very long existence. If he changed, he could become a monster. He could hurt the ones he loved. He didn't know anything about his animal nature, and his bloodlust was getting stronger and stronger all the time. What if he had to leave human company permanently one day? What if he did something terrible to Yugi, like kill him or turn him into a monster as well?

Atem knocked on Yugi's door. "Come in!" Atem walked in and saw Yugi lying on his bed, biting his lip in frustration as he played a handheld video game. "What's up?" Yugi asked, sounding as if he was a bit distracted.

Atem looked out the window. It was only noon, but there were just eight hours remaining until sundown. "Yugi, there's something I need to tell you, something I've been keeping from you for a long time," he said quietly. Yugi noticed the tone in his voice and shut his game off immediately.

"Is something wrong?" Yugi inquired.

Atem sat down next to Yugi on his bed. "I suppose that depends on your perspective," Atem answered. "It could be wrong… yet I still believe that my decision was for the best."

"What is it?" Yugi sounded worried now. Atem hadn't wanted to upset Yugi so quickly, but there was little that could be done about that.

"I must tell you this first: No matter what happens—no matter what—I will never hurt you. Do you understand?" Atem asked fervently. Yugi nodded, looking concerned. "Alright." Atem sighed. The moment had finally come. Was he ready? Would he ever be ready? "Do you know that today is full moon, Yugi?"

Yugi shook his head, but he fixed his eyes warily on Atem. "Sorry. I don't really pay attention to that." Something in Yugi's eyes told Atem that Yugi was catching on—the boy was bright.

"You have heard legends… myths of werewolves in your pop culture, haven't you?" Atem asked. "It seems to be a popular subject for fantasy fiction."

"What… what are you trying to tell me, Atem?" Yugi asked, sitting up on his knees. His eyes were began to flick nervously, and he apprehension emanated from his skin. He was ready to run away if he had to, run away from Atem. That was not what Atem wanted.

Atem took Yugi's hand and squeezed it softly. "Yugi, what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm really a werewolf." Yugi's expression changed dramatically within seconds—first he was surprised, then he was angry, then he took on a defensive fear, springing up from the bed and inching away from Atem.

"Yugi, please!" Atem begged, reaching out for Yugi but grasping only air. "I told you that I would not hurt you. I would not lie to you!"

"You mean except for the three weeks that you've been lying to me about this?" Yugi asked sharply. "If you don't want to hurt me, then why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"Yugi… I was afraid," Atem admitted. "I was afraid that you would look at me the way you're looking at me now, with fear and loathing in your eyes."

Yugi's defensive posture relaxed a little bit. He walked over to his desk and leaned on it. "If what you say is true…" he began. He reached into his desk and pulled out a utility knife. Before Atem could protest, he had drawn it across the palm of his hand, drawing crimson blood. "Then this won't mean anything to you!" He shoved his bloody hand in Atem's face.

Atem jumped back and pressed himself against the wall. The call of the blood was so strong, and Yugi's flesh smelled so sweet in all his fear and anger… But he had made a promise to Yugi not to hurt him, and he had made a promise to himself not to regret his decision to return to this world. All of his veins burned with the craving, but if he willed it desperately, he could control his desire.

"It doesn't," Atem said through clenched teeth. His voice was so low and strained that it sounded like a feral growl. "My word is my bond, Yugi. I will not break my promise."

"And what about someone else?" Yugi demanded. "Will you hurt them?"

"I'm not a monster, Yugi, please… please believe me," Atem pleaded, regaining all of his wits as Yugi retracted his hand. "I'm just… a little less than human."

Yugi turned around and stared at the floor. "Give me a little time, please," he requested. Atem nodded and left Yugi's room, wondering if he would ever be invited back into it.


	2. Just an Educated Guess

So Atem was a werewolf. Atem was really a werewolf. Atem was one of those fur-covered monsters, creatures so horrible that they had been hunted nearly to extinction. Their numbers were now so few they had become nothing more than legend. But Atem was real. He was a real werewolf.

Yet at the same time… he wasn't like the others. How could he have resisted the bloodlust so easily, and on the day of full moon, when the desire was strongest?

After their conversation, Atem had stayed in his room, giving Yugi plenty of time and space to deal with the news. It was courteous of him, considering how shocking the news was and how badly Yugi had taken it. Yugi began to feel a little guilty for making Atem feel like he had to defend himself like that, but he had to be sure that Atem would not betray him. Yugi could not deal with another Dante. There was no way.

The sun was reddening, turning the color of freshly drawn blood as it set and sank beneath the horizon. That meant that the changes were just about to start. Before leaving Yugi's room, Atem said that he would lock the door so that he couldn't escape. Atem thought that he would become no more than an animal, but Yugi knew better. Atem would remain himself, just like every other bloodthirsty werewolf remained themselves when they transformed.

Atem deserved better treatment than this. He shouldn't have to go through the excruciatingly painful transformation on his own. Yugi plucked up all of the courage that he could muster, left his room, and put his hand on Atem's doorknob. The locks on the doors in this house were weak. A hard turn of the knob would open Atem's door, locked or not. Without knocking, Yugi pushed his way into the room with a thud.

Atem was leaning heavily on the windowsill and clutching his side. He was panting, and sweat ran down his forehead. He saw Yugi. "Yugi… what… are you… doing here?" he asked between ragged breaths. "I could…" He fell to his knees, shuddering with pain.

Yugi hurried over to his side and grabbed his hand. "I know it hurts," he said. "But it will be over soon, I promise."

Atem looked up at him. His eyes were turning yellow. "How do you know….?" His lungs failed him as they lost the ability to form human speech, and his words turned to a soft, moaning howl. Skin and clothing formed wolf's pelt. The hand desperately grasping Yugi's wrist grew tough pads and long nails. His nose, chin, and eyes elongated, until Atem's face was no longer recognizable.

The four-legged creature collapsed onto the carpeted floor, its chest heaving. Atem whimpered slightly, but, ever the high-headed pharaoh, he quickly regained his dignity and picked himself off the floor with shaking haunches. He seemed surprised and shook his head slightly. He hadn't expected to change his form but not his mind.

Regardless of Yugi's long-lived hatred of werewolves, seeing his best friend in this state inspired his pity. "Atem, are you okay?" Yugi asked. He extended a hand, making sure that it was the one that didn't have the cut on it, and Atem pushed his muzzle into Yugi's palm reassuringly, wagging his tail as if he were a dog. Yugi smiled sadly and petted his head.

Suddenly, someone opened up Atem's bedroom door. "Hey, guys," Tea said. "Your grandpa said I could-" She looked at Atem in his lupine form and froze, quivering with shock and fear. She screamed and fled from the room.

Yugi looked briefly at Atem and then ran off after her. Though his legs were short, he had learned how to run quickly, and he caught up with her halfway down the block. "Tea… Tea, wait! It's alright!" he said. She turned around, and Yugi saw the fear in her eyes.

"Are you suicidal!?" she demanded. "Yugi, that was a wolf! What are you doing with a wolf in Atem's bedroom!?"

"Well, that was a wolf… but then again it wasn't…" Yugi said slowly. She glared at him for being so ambiguous. "Tea, that wolf was Atem," he explained.

"W-what?" she asked, a look of confusion and surprise on her face. "What do you mean, the wolf was Atem? What are you talking about?"

"Look at the sky," he said, pointing to the sky. "It's full moon."

"What are you trying to say? You mean… Atem's a werewolf?" she asked. He nodded. She slapped him on the back of the head angrily. "Then that still doesn't explain why you were in the same room as him! Yugi, he could have killed you! He wouldn't have wanted that!"

"No, Tea… Atem… he's different from other werewolves. He didn't want to hurt me, even when he smelled my blood," Yugi said, rubbing his head where Tea had struck him. "He, at least, isn't a threat to us tonight."

"Other werewolves? Do you mean the werewolves in the stories?" Tea inquired.

Yugi turned around and sighed. "I'll explain it to you tomorrow. How about we go for coffee and talk about it then?"

"Sure," Tea said, looking inquisitively at him. "So… I guess Atem's waiting for you to get back, right? You should go."

"You wanted something, didn't you?" Yugi asked. "I mean, you came over for a reason."

"Oh, yeah," she said. She must have forgotten in her terror. "This is yours." She held out a silver pocketknife. "You must have left it at my house a long time ago. I just found it when I was going through my things."

Yugi reached out and took it. "I had forgotten about this…" he muttered, turning it over in his hands. What a coincidence, that she had given him this tonight. "I guess it's been a long time since I ever had to think about it. Thanks."

"Well, I'll… see you tomorrow, and we can talk, right?" Tea said. She was disoriented; Yugi could understand. Everything that pop culture had told her said that werewolves were bloodthirsty monsters, and now that Atem had become one of them, the truth was hard to accept.

"Yeah. Noon," he suggested. She nodded and began to walk away. "And Tea?" he began. "It's gonna be alright." She smiled at him, and they parted ways.

As Yugi walked slowly, he wondered what this night was going to be like. Atem was a wolf; Yugi had a wolf hunting blade in his hand. He knew what his father would do. He knew what his mother, brothers, and uncle would do. But what would he do? Atem had practically shown his belly to Yugi tonight. Yugi couldn't betray that, no matter how he had been raised. He slid the knife into his pocket. He wasn't going to use it, not today.

Yugi poked his head into Atem's room cautiously. Atem was lying with his head on his paws. He looked completely dejected. "Tea was fine. She took the news better than I did," Yugi said. Atem's tail swished in a half-hearted wag. Although he was happy to hear this, it seemed, Tea wasn't the cause of his depression.

Yugi remembered something like this happening when Atem first came back to life. Atem became quiet, almost secluded. Yugi had assumed that it was because Atem was unaccustomed to this world, but that wasn't true. Yugi nearly beat his head against the wall for his foolishness. How could he not have noticed anything? Atem must have let some things slip in the beginning, but Yugi was too blind to see the signs.

Atem must have gotten used to his new body, though, because he had started to return into his normal self. But now, confronted with his true nature once again, he lay there mourning the loss of his humanity.

"I don't blame you for what happened," Yugi said softly, scratching Atem behind the ears. Atem closed his eyes. He liked the feeling of Yugi's fingertips against his skin, but he didn't want to admit it, even to himself. "You don't have to feel bad for being what you are."

Atem nuzzled Yugi briefly and gratefully, and he placed his head on Yugi's knees. Yugi stroked Atem's fur, and all night he wondered what his father would think if he were alive to see this.

* * *

The next morning, Atem was awakened early in the morning by another painful change. He sat on his unused bed and brushed bits of wolf hair off his clothing. He sniffed his wrist and grimaced. He still smelled like wolf.

Atem was grateful that Yugi and Tea had decided to accept him, but he was disturbed by Yugi's initial reaction to his confession. How could Yugi have known that his blood would make Atem react that way? How did he know that the transformation was painful, or that Atem would remain himself in his wolf form? It was certainly a mystery.

Atem stayed in his room until it was acceptable to make some noise. Yugi was drifting around like a ghost, rubbing his tired eyes on his way to the bathroom. "Mornin'," Yugi mumbled. It seemed like just another morning, but that wasn't so. Atem had turned into a wolf last night, and that couldn't be avoided.

Yugi managed to wake up enough to make breakfast, and he turned on the stove to make scrambled eggs. Atem sat down at the kitchen table and waited patiently for Yugi to finish cooking. Atem would have offered to help, but he knew better than to try and master the culinary arts. Yugi and Grandpa didn't mind doing all of the cooking, especially when Atem's concoctions were so… smoky.

"So when are you going to tell Joey and Tristan?" Yugi asked. He tried to sound casual, but Atem could sense the slight worry in his voice. Yugi had cut himself; Tea had run away. Given Joey and Tristan's confrontational nature, they were likely to beat Atem up as they tried to accept the truth.

Atem sighed. "As soon as possible, I think. Today, around noon, if they're available." Yugi picked up his fork, and Atem looked at him. "Are you going to help me not to frighten them off?" he asked.

"Uh… I'll be busy around noon," Yugi answered.

Atem raised his eyebrows. "Busy? Doing what, exactly?" he asked, smiling.

Yugi fidgeted. "Just going out for coffee with Tea."

Atem's grin became wider—Yugi could see that his incisors were a little larger than those of most humans. He cursed himself for not noticing it before. "_Coffee _with _Tea_, is it?" Atem inquired.

"Don't make it sound like that!" Yugi yelled, blushing embarrassedly. "That's… it's not a date, Atem…"

"Yugi," Atem said, "I know that you have feelings for her. Just get up the courage to tell her."

"If you know that I have feelings for her, then you probably know that she has feelings for you, not me," Yugi said sadly.

"That's only because you haven't had enough confidence in yourself to tell her the truth," Atem replied. "If you just stood up for yourself, she would realize what a great person you are."

Yugi blushed even deeper. "What do I know about being a boyfriend? I can barely take care of myself…" he mumbled.

"Come now, Yugi, do you think I would be any better?" Atem asked. "Since I became a werewolf, my chances of a long-term relationship with a sane member of my own species are astronomical. Take the opportunity you have—tell her."

Yugi thought about it for a minute. "Maybe… one day," he said finally. "How _did_ you know that I liked her? I never told you."

"I could tell by the way that you smelled when you looked at her," Atem answered. He chuckled and smiled sheepishly. "It was an interesting thing, trying to get used to my new senses. When I walked into a room, I could tell if you had been there and how recently you had left. I could tell what mood you were really in, even if your face said that you were happy. I could even distinguish you from another person in almost complete darkness, yet during the daylight I could barely see you if you were more than fifty yards away."

Yugi pushed his food around on his plate. "Yugi," Atem began, "how did you know what would happen last night? You seem to know more about me than I do."

"I don't know," Yugi said, shrugging. "I guess that it was just an educated guess."

"An educated guess doesn't explain why you broke into my room when I could have killed you," Atem retorted. Yugi looked away, and Atem recognized that expression. That was the look of a person who wanted to say something that they couldn't or shouldn't. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine," Atem said. "But if you can tell me anything else about werewolves, I would be grateful to know."

Yugi nodded noncommittally and finally began to swallow his food. Atem leaned back in his chair and looked at his innocent young partner, wondering how Yugi could have ever learned so much about werewolves.


	3. The Light

Yugi and Tea ordered their coffees and sat down at a table. Yugi brushed the tips of his shoes against the floor. He felt strangely uncomfortable. _"This isn't a date,"_ he assured himself, but Atem's words kept floating back into his brain.

Tea felt uncomfortable too. She had spent much of last night just trying to cope with the fact that Atem was an actual, living, breathing werewolf. It was disturbing enough to find out that werewolves existed. But now Atem was one of them? Had he been bitten or accidentally sipped water from a wolf's print or something? No, of course not. Atem hadn't been wounded since he came back to life, and he would never have stooped so low as to drink water from a muddy footprint. But how could it have happened? And what would happen now?

"Yugi," Tea said softly, "do you know how Atem became a werewolf?"

"Well… you can't _become_ a werewolf," Yugi said. "Werewolves are born. You don't turn into one when they bite you."

"But Atem used to be human," Tea said. "It must have happened when he came back to life, somehow." This didn't make any sense. Why would the Millennium Items turn Atem into a werewolf? Was it a punishment or a price? Did it take too much magical energy to revive a true human being? Did Atem have a choice, or was he forced to come back as a werewolf? Tea had so many questions, but she wasn't sure that Yugi understood much more than she did. He looked troubled, and his eyes were full of concern.

Yugi leaned back in his chair and sighed. "You know the pocket knife you gave back to me last night?" Tea nodded. "That pocket knife used to belong to my father," Yugi explained. "He gave it to me the night before he died. It's made of silver, and its blade is laced with essence of wolfsbane."

"Silver and wolfsbane?" Tea asked. That didn't sound particularly werewolf-friendly.

"Knives like that were used by werewolf hunters in my hometown," Yugi continued. "My dad was a werewolf hunter. And so were my mother and my two older brothers. I was going to be one too, when I grew up, so my parents taught me everything they knew about werewolves and how to kill them. How to hunt the hunters, they said."

"And… they were killed?" Tea asked. "By werewolves?"

Yugi nodded sadly. He blinked a little, trying to repress his tears. Tea was sad that his memories of his parents, whether good or bad, caused him pain.

"_Papa, why do werewolves want to kill us?" Yugi asked, watching as his father sharpened and poisoned the blade of his hunter's knife. "You told me everything I need to know about how to kill them, but won't I do it better if I know their… their… their motive?"_

_Ichigo, Yugi's "papa," smiled. "You're curious. That's good—it will help you as you grow older." He turned around and tossed the knife to Yugi, who caught it by the hilt with a practiced hand. "You see, Yugi, in life there are two kinds of creatures: predators and prey. Werewolves are born with the idea that they are the predators of the earth, that they are superior to humans and to all other forms of life."_

"_But don't we hunt them?" Yugi asked. "That means that they're the prey, right, Papa?"_

"_Though werewolves are born with superhuman strength and speed, the bloodlust can make them incredibly stupid, at least by human standards," Ichigo replied. "And since they can only breed on full moon, their population is little. Strength and speed can never defeat numbers and technology. Remember that, Yugi."_

"_But what happens when you're all by yourself, and you don't have a weapon?" Yugi asked. "What do you do when you don't have numbers or technology?"_

"_You keep your wits about you, and you remember everything I taught you, alright?" Ichigo said, clapping Yugi on the shoulder. "But don't worry about that. Your mother and I will always be here. This is why we work as a family… almost like a pack of our own, do you understand?"_

"_You want to fight fire with fire?" Yugi wondered, grinning. _

_Ichigo ruffled his son's hair. "You're going to do alright, kid."_

Yugi shook his head. "Atem is different from the rest of them. Somehow, even though he had the same bloodlust as the rest of his kind, he was able to remain human in his mind. When he transformed, I was able to trust him because I knew that it was still him. But it doesn't make sense…"

"You thought that all werewolves thought that humans were nothing but prey, like your father told you, didn't you?" Tea asked.

"Yeah. And as far as I know, he was right. Except for Atem… Was it because he wasn't born as one? Was it because he remembers what it was like to be human? Or was it because he cares about us so much?" Yugi wondered.

"Why are you focusing on that so much?"

Yugi looked down at his half-full coffee cup. "If this is only temporary… if this isn't going to last, then I need to know. I need to know if the real Atem is going to die one day… and I'll be forced to kill what's left."

Tea looked up at him. "Yugi…"

"You know that he wouldn't want to be the cause of anyone's death!" Yugi exclaimed. "Tea, if he loses his human soul, his knowledge of human ways would make him the most dangerous werewolf on earth, and I've seen some dangerous ones."

"_Yugi," Yugi's mother, Kanae, said to her son frantically, "go to the hiding place." She smeared his face and clothes with mud to cover his scent. "Do not come out, no matter what you see, do you understand?"_

"_I can help you fight!" Yugi exclaimed. "Papa trained me, like he trained Etsuya and Junsuke!"_

"_Yugi, do not misbehave!" Kanae shouted. "Obey me, and obey your father, and hide until we tell you that it is safe. You are not yet of age!"_

_Yugi reluctantly did as his mother told him. He was small, so he could fit in the narrow air duct that led hot air in from the furnace, which was off during summer. _

_The front door burst open. A thin, lanky, muscular man walked into the room. He smelled like forest, bad breath, and rotting flesh. He smiled, revealing yellow teeth and black gums. Even though he was in his human form, the wolf was evident in his appearance. "My dear Kanae," he said, his voice low as a growl, "it has been so long."_

"_For good reason, snake!" Kanae declared. She slipped silver ringlets onto her knuckles, and the man bared his teeth in a wicked grin. _

"_Now, do you really think that this is a time for violence?" he asked. He casually sat down in one of the wooden chairs in the Mutous' dining room and crossed his legs. "I only came for a brief conversation. Don't you think that we can be civil for a moment?"_

"_Civil?" Kanae spat. "You killed my sons! You killed my sons!" _

_Yugi's face fell and his eyes slowly widened. His brothers… dead?_

_Enraged, Kanae launched herself at the werewolf, and he leaped up from his chair with inhuman speed and grace. Kanae flew at him with a flurry of blows, yet only once she made contact. Her silver knuckles grazed his cheek, and he howled with pain. She grinned with sadistic pleasure as his skin burned. _

_The werewolf's eyes burned golden-yellow as the red and orange light spilled into the room from the setting sun. "You are too late, Kanae," he hissed. "The world of darkness doesn't belong to you."_

_He showed no signs of pain as he leaped forward and transformed in an instant. His fur was white and matted with sap. He was on Kanae before she could even gasp; he ripped her throat out before she could scream. _

_Yugi looked on in disgust and horror as the werewolf ripped into his mother's flesh and consumed it with a gory display of feral lust. "Mama…" Yugi whispered. _

_The wolf's ears perked up and Yugi covered his mouth with his hands. But Dante had heard him already, and Yugi knew that he would be joining his mother soon. _

_Someone opened the back door and screamed in agony as they saw Kanae's body. "Nooooo!" Ichigo roared. "No! Dante—you bastard!" He unsheathed an enormous silver sword and ran at Dante in a passion of fury, but the werewolf was still too strong for him. Regardless of his enormous amount of training and experience, Ichigo could never defeat an alpha male on the night of the full moon, one-on-one. _

"My family's death inspired everyone else in my hometown to take a stand against werewolves," Yugi said. "Now, thanks to their sacrifice, nearly all of the werewolves in the world are dead. They would have wanted that."

"Do you think they would have approved of Atem?" Tea asked.

Yugi sighed. "I really don't know. I don't think that they could accept the fact that a werewolf could be good after everything they've seen."

"Can you?"

Yugi looked out of the window to stall. "I told you that I trusted him, Tea. But I don't know how long he'll be here to trust." Yugi sighed. "I guess that I should tell him about this. He's been wondering how I know so much about werewolves." Yugi gulped down the last of his lukewarm coffee. "But I was raised to kill his kind. What's he going to think of me?"

"Yugi, you couldn't hurt a fly," Tea said softly. "You're a duelist, not a hunter. You've honored your parents by fighting evil in other ways."

"I just hope that my parents would have seen it that way," Yugi said. He paid the bill, ever the gentleman, and he and Tea left to go back to the Game Shop.

A short, brawny man sat with his legs crossed in a chair near them, sipping a cappuccino and fuming. "Yugi socializing with a werewolf…" he muttered. "What is he thinking? His parents would never approve of this." He threw his coat over his shoulder and stomped out of the coffee shop. First he would see how deluded Yugi had become. Then he would make Yugi see the light.


	4. Family Honor

The deep silence made everything else seem unusually loud. Passing cars seemed like passing trains. The chirping birds were deafening. The bell on the Game Shop door chimed and shook the teeth of the three men.

"Are you two going to say something to me?" Atem asked finally. "You've been silent for quite some time."

"Well, what are we supposed to say, man?" Tristan asked. "You invite us over and you tell us you're a… a…"

"A werewolf!" Joey exclaimed, standing up. "Doncha know that yesterday was full moon? What didja do wit' Yug', huh?" He looked around. "If you ate him, you're goin' down, buddy!"

"I didn't _eat _Yugi; I would never do such a thing!" Atem yelled angrily, also standing. "I assure you, Yugi was in no harm. I have considered myself Yugi's protector for the last two years—I would not become his murderer in the short span of a month!"

Joey crossed his arms, fuming. "I know ya wouldn't hurt 'im, Atem… but you're a werewolf! If you were here on full moon, then…"

"I retain my sense of self when I transform," Atem replied shortly. "The difference between me and the werewolves in your legends is that I respect humans, considering that I once was one."

"So Yugi's all right?" Tristan asked. Atem nodded.

"I swore to him, and I will swear it to you: I will not hurt anyone," Atem pledged. Joey and Tristan knew how honorable Atem was; he would not break his word. Atem's terseness faded, and he looked at his two friends pleadingly. "Everyone… Is this all right with you?" he asked. "I mean, are we still…?"

"Still friends?" Joey finished for him. He hooked his arm around Atem's neck companionably. "Ah, I figure I could still take ya. We're cool." Tristan nodded.

Atem smiled in relief. "It is good to hear that. I-" He stopped as Yugi and Tea walked into the family room. "Welcome back," he said. "I just got finished telling Joey and Tristan about last night. Did you two have a good time?" He winked knowingly at Yugi.

Yugi looked down at his hands. "I have something that I need to tell you," he said at length.

"What is it, Yugi?" Atem asked. "Is something wrong?" Perhaps Yugi was finally going to explain how he knew so much about werewolves. Atem reminded himself to thank Tea for drawing the truth out of Yugi.

"It's about my family… and about when I was a kid," Yugi said, sitting down on the couch. Atem sat down next to him.

"You've never talked about your past before," Atem stated.

"My parents and brothers died when I was ten years old," Yugi began. "I've never told you this, but when my mother and father were born, werewolves were at lot more common than they are today. My parents grew up to be werewolf hunters.

"They met in the business and fell in love. They got married and had my two brothers and me. They wanted us to be werewolf hunters too, so they started teaching us about werewolf instincts, pack dynamics, even how to recognize werewolves when they were in their human form…" Yugi winced and looked guilty. He had lived in the same house with a werewolf for three weeks, and he hadn't noticed a thing. His parents would be ashamed of his negligence.

"Your parents killed werewolves for a living?" Tristan asked incredulously.

"Yeah, and the werewolf population didn't like them for it. So the alpha male Dante took his best wolves and attacked us on full moon. They caught my brothers off guard in the field… I didn't even know they were dead until my mama…" Yugi blushed and quickly cleared his throat. "Until my mom told me. She hid me and tried to fight off Dante herself, but she wasn't strong enough to fight a transformed alpha male on her own.

"My dad came in after that, and Dante killed him too. I managed… managed to escape while Dante was…" Yugi trailed off and looked away.

Atem felt a strong urge to nuzzle Yugi and lick his nose to comfort him, but he suppressed it. Yugi seemed like a vulnerable little cub, and Atem itched to protect him. "Yugi, I'm very sorry," he said. Yugi nodded, but his kept his face pointed downward. This explained everything. Tristan, Joey, and Tea had only heard of werewolves in myths, so it was relatively easy for them to accept that Atem was good. But Yugi had watched werewolves devour his parents right before his eyes. "It must be very hard for you to trust me, after everything you've seen."

"It's all right," Yugi said, although he seemed a bit unsure. Atem regretted that Yugi was still uncertain about his trustworthiness, but he promised that he would put Yugi at ease.

"Well, I think that Joey and I better be going," Tristan said, standing up. "I promised Serenity that I'd take her to her eye appointment…"

Joey smacked him on the back of the head. "You did not! _I _promised her I'd take her to da eye doctor; you decided ta tag along!" They bickered as they left.

Tea sighed. "I need more female friends," she said. "I have ballet practice soon. I'll see you guys later!" she said.

Yugi, too, was about to get up and go do something, but Atem stopped him and pulled him back down onto the couch. "Yugi, I know that your parents were killed by werewolves, but I would never do anything like that," Atem said. "You can trust me."

"I know that I can trust you. I do," Yugi said. But his voice had an edge of bitterness as he added, "For now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Atem asked. "You were fine last night, you accepted me, but as soon as you came back from your date with Tea you've been talking like I could go crazy and eat you any minute."

"It wasn't a date!" Yugi exclaimed, annoyed.

"What do you think that I'm going to become, Yugi?" Atem demanded. "A monster, just like the others? You know that I'm nothing like them. You've seen it."

"Neither of us knows if you're going to stay this way!" Yugi yelled. His hands shook with emotion. "You're the predator… and I'm the prey. And I know that you have instincts that you didn't have before, right?" Atem nodded begrudgingly. "So how long will it be before your darker instincts take over?" Yugi asked, his voice low as a whisper. "How long will it be before one of us has to kill the other?"

"I made you a promise, Yugi! Do you think I take my word so lightly?" Atem demanded. "If I ever thought I could be a source of danger to you, I would take my own life rather than be the cause of the loss of yours."

"Do you think that's what I want?" Yugi asked. "Do you think I want my best friend to die?"

"I know that you hate this, Yugi, but I made my choice," Atem stated. "I had to choose between your life, my life, and the sake of the world… or my humanity. And I choose to sacrifice that humanity for the greater good! I'm sorry if this is hard for you, but I would not let myself exist as a ghost in this world anymore! I was depriving you of your life, and I was endangering the earth. It was not worth it, Yugi!"

Yugi crossed his arms and stared at the ground. "If you cannot trust me anymore, so be it. Every choice has consequences; these are mine. But if you can find it in yourself to believe me when I tell you that you mean more to me than any instinct, then I would be most grateful," Atem said. "It is your choice now."

Yugi's nails bit into his palms as he clenched his fists in anger and confusion. What was he supposed to do? Atem wanted Yugi to trust him. Yugi's family would have wanted Yugi to kill him. Yugi didn't know what he wanted, and he didn't know what he was going to do.

He decided that he wouldn't do either. He would take back all of the trust he had given to Atem over the years and force Atem to prove himself trustworthy again. He would view Atem as a friendly stranger with a gun in his coat, as a lion that let you stroke its side. Yugi wasn't going to trust Atem, but he wasn't going to do anything drastic to enrage him either.

"I'm sorry, but I can't believe you yet," Yugi said. He was genuinely sorry, but he couldn't trust Atem anymore. He couldn't do it for the sake of his family. "Atem… I wish that I could, but I can't. You need to prove to me that you'll keep your promise no matter what."

Atem flinched. He had expected some resistance from Yugi about this—it was natural for Yugi to distrust werewolves after what happened to his parents. But Atem had also expected to win the argument. He was trustworthy; he had done nothing wrong. Why couldn't Yugi see that?

"Yugi, what more can I do to prove that I will never hurt you?" Atem asked.

Yugi closed his eyes. "I don't know," he replied at length. "Maybe I don't need more. Maybe I just need time. Maybe all of this is just too new." Yugi picked himself off the couch and walked to the door. "I need to work all of this out, okay?" He excused himself to his room.

Atem paced back and forth, seething with fury. How could things have worked out so terribly? He punched the wall and then hissed, sucking the blood off his knuckles. The sweet red liquid tasted delicious, but he spat it out the open window into the alleyway below.

All he had done was make a choice. He had spared Yugi the pain of sharing a body with another, and he had protected the world from the tempting magic of the Millennium Items. Why was he being punished? Why did the person he had loved and protected reject him? He had done nothing wrong, but he was being treated like a criminal. Atem ran a hand through his hair and nearly ripped it out in frustration. He had done nothing wrong. Why couldn't Yugi see that?


	5. Brother of My Papa

Yugi blew his nose once again as he lay on the couch, draped with blankets and wearing his coziest pajamas. Sick! He hadn't gotten sick in ages! Now, days before full moon, when Atem's bloodlust was the most powerful, his immune system had chosen to let a few virus bugs off the hook, leaving Yugi weak and vulnerable.

Yet no matter how close to full moon it had gotten, Atem had still proven himself completely trustworthy, and he taken it upon himself to take exemplary care of Yugi over the last couple of days.

Yugi sneezed and rubbed his sore, red nose on the back of his hand. Atem wouldn't let him leave the couch except to go to the bathroom, but he was getting hungry…

Atem walked into the living room at that moment, holding a bowl of soup and some saltine crackers. "Hungry?" he asked, right on cue. Yugi nodded, and Atem set the soup in front of the couch on a fold-out table. He leaned over Yugi very quickly and discreetly, sniffed him, and then grabbed a few crackers and benignly sat down in his chair.

This was only going to be Atem's second moon, but nothing had changed since last month. Even Atem and Yugi's interactions had managed to get back to some kind of normal after their argument. But Atem still cast Yugi looks of pleading disappointment, and Yugi still flinched whenever Atem accidentally brushed against him. These things kept their relationship strained.

This new sniffing thing was just something else to strain their relationship. Atem had obviously developed a few new wolf-like habits since last month. How long would that last? How far would that go?

Still, Yugi's optimistic half said, Atem had taken care to develop harmless wolf-like habits. So what if he sniffed Yugi every once in a while? So what if tended to growl rather than yell when something frustrated him? So what if his nails were a little longer, his teeth a little sharper?

So what? Yugi's pessimistic half retorted. Atem had gone from perfectly human to growling and sniffing in less than two months. A year from now, what was going to happen? If he allowed himself to do those things, why wouldn't he allow himself to do other things?

Because, Yugi's optimistic half replied, then he would be all alone.

This fact surprised Yugi on the whole. He had never thought of it that way before. As far as either Yugi or Atem was aware, Atem was one of only a handful of werewolves in the entire world. If Atem did something like kill Yugi, then he would become a lone wolf, an outcast. He would be hunted and killed for certain, and Yugi was sure that Atem knew that.

If Yugi couldn't trust Atem to keep his teeth to himself on the sheer force of friendship, he could trust Atem to look out for himself. As far as Atem was concerned, he and Yugi were part of the same pack, and it wouldn't benefit Atem at all to kill a member of his own pack. Yugi understood now. And he was sure that his family would understand too.

"I believe you," Yugi said suddenly. Atem's eyes fixed on him, and Yugi could picture Atem's wolf ears flicking towards him. He knew what Yugi meant immediately, but he didn't seem to believe it at first. "I believe that you don't want to hurt me or anyone else," Yugi repeated.

"Why the sudden change?" Atem asked. He tried to sound casual, but Yugi could tell that he was choosing his words very carefully. He didn't want to undo whatever revelation had come into Yugi's mind.

"You wouldn't gain anything from killing someone," Yugi said. "And I think that you know that as a human and as a wolf."

"You're trusting me not to kill you because it wouldn't benefit me?" Atem asked. Yugi nodded and began to eat his chicken soup. "That's not exactly the explanation I wanted, but I'll take what I can get."

"But, um… try to stay mostly human," Yugi said. "We're supposed to start school next month."

Atem cocked his head. "What do you mean?" His face fell as he realized what Yugi was saying. "Oh, no," Atem said, laughing. "What have I been doing?"

Yugi laughed too, feeling completely uninhibited with Atem for the first time in many weeks. "Do you know that thing that you do when you sniff me and then pretend that you didn't?"

"Oh," Atem said, smiling and looking a little embarrassed. "At least I've been doing that on purpose."

Yugi chewed a cracker. "Why?"

"It's… a status check, if you will. It's my way of making sure that you're still all right. If you smell angry or afraid, or if I smell blood on you, I'll know that something's wrong," Atem explained

"You don't think I'd tell you?" Yugi asked.

"Well, sometimes, I don't," Atem admitted. "Rather, I didn't. But sometimes I don't think we realize what we're feeling clearly enough to tell someone else. As for why I did it quietly, I was always worried that I would upset you." Yugi nodded, but he was more upset that Atem hadn't told him that he was sniffing on purpose. Yugi had assumed that it was wolfish instinct.

Atem's super-sharp ears heard someone knock on the door. "Eat your soup. I'll be right back," he said, getting up to answer it.

A short man stood on the stoop. As soon as Atem opened the door, the man's eyes fixed on him with a look somewhere between disgust and greed. His scent was unpleasant. Atem would not trust him quickly.

"Can I help you?" Atem asked. "Were you looking for the Game Shop? It's just one door down."

"Actually, I was looking for Yugi," the man said. His voice was deep and gruff. "Can I see him?"

"He's sick," Atem answered shortly. "You'll have to come back some other time." This was true, but Yugi could easily have spoken with anyone whether he had a cold or not. Really, Atem wanted to send this man away because he made his hackles stand on end.

The man put his hand on the door to keep Atem from closing it. Atem had to repress the desire to growl at him. "I need to talk to Yugi," he said. His eyes burned with fervency.

Atem narrowed his eyes at him. "As you wish," he said quietly, letting the man inside. He led him up the stairs and into the family room, where Yugi was finishing the last of his soup. "Yugi, you have a visitor," Atem announced.

Yugi looked up at the man. His spoon tinkled on the bowl when Yugi dropped it in shock. The man smiled. "Hello, nephew," he said.

Atem looked between the two. "Nephew?" he asked.

"Uncle Gouta…" Yugi whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"I would tell you, but I want to speak with you privately," Gouta answered. "If you please, tell your friend to go somewhere that he can't hear us." Something in his tone and his choice of words distressed Atem, but at Yugi's nod of assurance Atem left and went to help Grandpa in the Game Shop.

As soon as he was sure Atem was out of earshot, Gouta spun upon Yugi, seething with anger. "What are you doing!?" Gouta demanded. "How could you betray your family by accepting this worthless werewolf?"

"How did you know?" Yugi asked, horrified.

"First I overheard you talking to your friend Tea in the coffee shop a few weeks ago," Gouta replied, pacing in anger. "I had come here from Venice to see you, to let you know that you still had family besides your grandfather, and then I heard you spouting about that werewolf, wondering if you could trust him!"

"I've been careful, uncle!" Yugi retorted. "Don't you think that I made sure to pay attention to Atem's behavior before I decided to give him my trust?"

"You can't ever trust werewolves, dear nephew; they are murderers," Gouta seethed. "Didn't you learn anything from your father?"

"He taught me how to fight and recognize evil," Yugi said, "and Atem is not evil. Besides, if you've known about this since last month, why did you wait until now to talk to me?"

"Because you gave up, Yugi! You decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and you stopped paying attention!" Gouta said. "You stopped being on your guard when you were the weakest! Someone has to protect you from your ignorance."

"What?" Yugi asked. "How did you know that I had decided to trust Atem, once and for all?"

"I've been… watching you," Gouta admitted. "But it was for your own good! I had to be there in case you made a mistake like this."

"You were spying on me?" Yugi asked incredulously. "Uncle Gouta, how could you? I had to learn to take care of myself while you were gone. You don't have to protect me like I'm a kid!"

"As if," Gouta said. "You've already proven how distorted your judgment has become. You've forgotten all about your parents' sacrifice, haven't you?"

"Of course I haven't," Yugi argued. "It took me a whole month before I could trust my friend again. He hasn't done anything wrong, uncle! He's a good man!"

"That _half-breed _is no man," Gouta replied angrily. "And I'm sorry you can't see it."

"I guess you're going to have to go back to Venice, then, because you can't make me change my mind," Yugi said determinedly. "Atem is as close to me as Etsuya or Junsuke was."

"You would dare compare him to your brothers?" Gouta asked incredulously. "You would compare him to them when they gave their lives for the cause that you have so blithely disregarded?"

"I would," Yugi answered. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, Uncle Gouta, not after what happened to Papa. But if you can't accept that Atem is someone that I have put total trust in, then you're going to have to leave."

Gouta fumed. The son of his brother, defending a werewolf at the expense of his own family's honor? It was beyond disgraceful. He would have to knock some sense into his delusional nephew before things got out of hand and he lost another member of his family.

He walked up to Yugi, who looked up at him from the couch that Atem had forbidden him to leave. "I'm sorry, Yugi," Gouta said. Yugi smiled, thinking that he had won the argument. "I'm sorry that I have to resort to these measures." The smile slid off Yugi's face.

Gouta punched Yugi with such force that it split the skin on Yugi's cheekbone and rendered him unconscious. He took the boy, who could not have weighed more than ninety pounds, and hoisted him over his shoulder.

The werewolf would not take the loss of his misguided prey easily. Gouta and Yugi would have to go somewhere that this "Atem" would not or could not follow their scent. A plane back to Venice was the best bet.

He opened the window and jumped out of it to the street below, landing deftly in a cat-like crouch. His nephew would be angry with him and maybe even try to go back to Domino, but he would have to leave that life behind now. Yugi would not have his friends or his home, or even his old profession—as far as Gouta was aware, Atem was the last werewolf in existence, so Yugi could hardly hunt for a living like his father. Yet it was for the best. Yugi had to be somewhere where he could not only be away from his half-breed friend, but where he could learn to hate their kind as he once did.


	6. Predator and Protector

So the man that had regarded him so odiously had been Yugi's uncle, Atem mused. Yugi's previous story had left Atem with the impression that Yugi had no surviving relatives aside from his grandfather. Now this "Uncle Gouta" had showed up on their doorstep, seeming perfectly civil but for the slight and subtle hostile actions that he displayed occasionally.

That hostility combined with the man's confrontational scent made Atem think twice about leaving Yugi alone with him. But it was Yugi's uncle, and if Yugi thought that Gouta could be trusted, then Atem had to trust him too.

Still, one could never be too careful, especially not after everything Atem and Yugi had gone through. Atem decided to return to the living room, just for a moment, to check and make sure everything was all right.

When Atem walked into the room, he realized how accurate his suspicions were. The window was wide open, and Yugi and Gouta were nowhere to be seen. Atem smelled blood in the air—Yugi's blood—and saw a few red-brown splatters on the fabric of Yugi's pillow case.

Atem growled in anger. Gouta had taken Yugi against his will, and Atem assured himself that he would find them. He sniffed the air and took in Gouta's scent. Atem already knew Yugi's smell well enough. He leaped out of the window with superhuman agility and followed the trail straight to Gouta and Yugi's location.

* * *

Gouta carried Yugi's limp body in his arms as he ran through the back alleys of Domino to avoid suspicion. Yugi had a strong constitution, like his father, so he would wake up just in time for them to book a flight straight to Italy. For now, Gouta had to avoid the searching eyes of the public, even if it made their scents easier to track.

"Nasty, filthy human," a dark voice seethed from the shadows. Gouta stopped in his tracks, his eyes flicking back and forth. "You thought you had killed the last of us, didn't you? Well, you were wrong."

A soiled and filth-covered woman stepped out of the shadows, her dark eyes burning with a feral hunger. Three more people, one woman and two men, walked out from behind her. They also looked at them with hungry lust.

Gouta gently placed Yugi on the ground behind him, keeping his eyes fixed on the werewolves in front of him. How had so many of their kind survived with no stories or rumors of any kind? Were they "good," like Yugi supposed Atem to be? Did they refrain from eating humans for fear that they would be discovered and annihilated? Whatever the situation was, Gouta's "last werewolf on earth" theory was quickly disproved.

"Kill the hunter," the dark-eyed woman, presumably the alpha female, commanded. The three werewolves at her heels lunged forward, their soiled fingernails itching to dig into human flesh.

Gouta dodged them and kicked one with his boot, which was tipped with silver. The injured werewolf whimpered in pain and recoiled, but the others were on him before he could react. Three to one, Gouta couldn't stand a chance. He gargled on his own blood as they tore his throat open and began to consume him.

The alpha female watched as her subjects devoured their prey. When they finished, they cowered at her feet once more. "The boy is mine," she said. She preferred young, fresh meat over the toughened carcass of the old hunter.

She paced herself, approaching the human with the softest footfalls and the utmost grace. She licked her lips in anticipation and brushed the boy's hair from his face. His eyelids fluttered; he was about to wake. She smiled, revealing swelled incisors, and reached out her hand to drag her long, sharp nail across his throat.

Suddenly, a form dashed in between them. He smelled like a werewolf, yet he smelled like the boy as well. "Leave him be," the mysterious werewolf commanded. He spoke with all the authority of an alpha male.

The woman backed away, baring her teeth at him. "Outcast…" she growled.

Yugi's eyes opened fully. He saw four bedraggled people looking murderous. He saw the bloody skeleton of a human lying mangled in front of him. He looked up and saw a familiar person standing over him. "…Atem?" he asked groggily.

"You smelled my scent on him; he is _my _prey, and you will not touch him," Atem said, ignoring Yugi. "I am not a part of your pack, and you have no power over me! Yugi is mine, and no other's."

She growled at him in anger, and Atem growled right back. Yugi pushed himself against the wall, disturbed to hear such an animalistic and inimical sound coming from Atem's throat. But a single human was not worth an open fight, not with another werewolf. Begrudgingly, the alpha female stalked away, her lackeys trailing after her into the darkness.

Atem watched them go and then kneeled by Yugi's side. "Yugi, are you all right?" he asked frantically, searching Yugi for wounds or injuries.

Yugi glanced fearfully into Atem's eyes and then stared at the skeletal corpse on the ground. "U-uncle G-gouta…" Yugi stammered. A wide-eyed horror came over Yugi's face. His eyes did not move from his uncle.

"Yugi, I am very sorry," Atem said softly.

Yugi's frozen and lifeless eyes made their way back to Atem. When they looked at each other, Atem saw something dark in Yugi's soul, something he had never before seen when Yugi looked at him. It was disgust. And through the disgust burned anger, hatred, and a desire for vengeance. And behind the fire of anger lay a thick cloud of despair, threatening to swallow Yugi whole like a demonic fog.

Yugi bent over and vomited up his chicken soup. He was shaking with rage, sadness, and his illness. Atem put his hand lightly on Yugi's shoulder. "Yugi…" he whispered.

But Yugi brushed Atem's hand away and picked himself wearily off the ground. Using the wall for support, he began to walk back to the Game Shop. Before Atem followed him, he used what remained of his Shadow Magic to disintegrate Gouta's disfigured body. It would be best if no questions were asked.

Atem trailed Yugi slowly and silently back to the house, until Yugi went into the bedroom and shut the door in Atem's face, making it perfectly clear that he wanted to be alone.

Yugi wallowed in grief for the next few days, only emerging from his room to go to the bathroom or to pilfer food from the fridge in the night. Atem never said anything to him, knowing that if he tried to address Yugi before he was ready it would only make things worse.

As the evening of full moon approached, Atem closed himself in his room to transform, making sure that he was out of Yugi's way. But minutes before the abdominal pain and sudden weakness kicked in, someone knocked on his door. "Come in," Atem said, frowning because he knew he would not be able to maintain a conversation for long.

Yugi walked in, still holding the dazed and detached aura he had possessed since his uncle's murder, but seeming a bit more lucid than before. "So I'm yours?" he asked without greeting or introduction.

Atem recalled his words to the alpha female. "By their standards, yes."

"And I'm your prey?" Yugi asked. His eyes were dull but deathly serious.

"Again, by their standards, yes," Atem said again. "Please let me explain. When two people interact with each other often, their scents sort of… rub off on each other. In werewolf circles, any human that has a werewolf's scent on them officially 'belongs' to that werewolf. Most werewolves are under the impression that they can do anything they please with humans, and therefore it was easiest to relate to them by calling you my prey."

"They're right," Yugi said. "I am your prey, because you could do whatever you felt like with me. You could kill and eat me like that werewolf ate Gouta… like Dante ate my parents… like his werewolves ate my brothers."

"I was not the one who did any of that," Atem replied. He glanced at the clock. He had two minutes before sundown. "It seems as though every time I think we're all right, something happens and you once again question me. Yet I myself have done nothing to arouse your suspicions."

Yugi stared at him, his eyes unmoving and his face impassive. Atem's eyes darted back to the clock. One minute left. "I may have the form of a monster, but I don't have the heart of one," Atem said. "And if it takes me another month, another year, another decade, it doesn't matter, because I will be able to prove my true intentions to you. My kind has caused you so much grief, time and time again, I know this… but I do not belong with them."

Atem walked forward and clasped Yugi's hand between his. "I came back for you," Atem admitted quietly. A jolt of pain shot through Atem's abdomen like lightning, and he fell to the ground on all fours. A spark of life entered Yugi's eyes as he saw his friend shivering with agony.

Yugi dropped to his knees, tears in his eyes. "It seems like everyone I love has been taken away by werewolves… even you," he said, although by the time the words left his mouth Atem was no longer able to respond. Yugi buried his face in the soft, warm gray fur around Atem's neck. "But you're not the last werewolf on earth anymore. You're not even the last werewolf in Domino. You could kill me, and you could leave, and you could join their pack and be just fine."

Atem gently nuzzled Yugi's cheek. _"But I won't, Yugi,"_ Atem thought. _"I won't hurt you. I love you. You are my best friend in all the world. I've showed you. I've proved myself to you. I made my promise. Believe me."_

It was as if Yugi had read his mind. "I believe you," he whispered. "I believe you."


	7. Back to the Couch

Another story comes to an end in light.

Thanks to **Kiku Okassu, Yizuki, Suma Amoru, dragonlady222, Deviousdragon, **and **Shamise** for reviewing!

Thanks to **Yizuki **for favoriting!

Thanks to **Black Magic2, Panguins-in-American-Oh-my, Pharaohyamifan, Shamise, Suma Amoru, **and **Yizuki** for alerting!

And thanks to everyone who read this fiction. I hope that (with all humility, of course) they liked it as much as I did.

* * *

Yugi coughed violently and blew his nose into a tissue. Yugi's emotional upheaval had only made his cold worse. Now he was once more glued to the couch while Atem once more took care of him.

The third tissue box was now empty, so Atem diligently pushed another one onto the table beside Yugi. "Thanks," Yugi said, with a nose so stuffy that his gratitude could barely be understood.

"Anytime," Atem replied, flipping a page of the book he was reading. He held the novel close to his face, as his day vision was bad. Grandpa had offered to buy him reading and long-distance glasses. Atem had quickly refused.

Yugi reclined on the arm of the couch, wondering how he should spend his time, when a thought occurred to him. Yugi threw the covers off and walked out of the room, Atem watching him closely to see if he went to the bathroom or not.

But Yugi did not go to the bathroom. Instead, he made a beeline to his bedroom and began searching through his drawers. He found what he was looking for and sat down on the bed, examining it while deep in thought.

Atem, noticing Yugi's deviation from his path, immediately got up and prepared to force Yugi to go back to the couch and stay there. "Yugi," Atem said, standing in Yugi's doorway. "If you needed anything, you could have asked." He cocked his head at the object in Yugi's hands. "What's that?"

Yugi threw it to him, and as soon as Atem caught it the object burned his skin. He let it drop to the floor and shook the pain from his hand. "Silver," he muttered, gazing at the ovular silver object bouncing off the carpet. "You could have just told me," he said accusingly to Yugi, who went to pick it up.

"It's my dad's old pocketknife," Yugi explained, turning it over in his fingers. "Silver, like you said, and the blade is laced with wolfsbane."

Regardless of its sentimental value to Yugi, Atem wrinkled his nose disdainfully at it. The lightest touch of the handle would burn his fingers and the slightest graze of the blade would sentence him to a slow and painful death.

"I guess I don't really need it anymore, do I?" Yugi asked. "Based on what happened a few days ago, I won't need to be fighting off werewolves as long as I'm your… your…" He still couldn't say the word. It felt wrong.

"My friend?" Atem offered. He sat down next to Yugi and carefully wrapped Yugi's fingers around his heirloom. "Perhaps you should keep it," he suggested. "Maybe your father would have wanted you to."

Yugi looked at Atem. "I don't know what he would have wanted anymore." Considering Gouta's reaction to Atem, the rest of Yugi's family probably wouldn't have been very understanding either.

"If it means something to you besides murder and death, keep it," Atem advised. "But if you can't see anything but blood when you look at it, then perhaps you should get rid of it."

Yugi thought about it for a while. "It hurts you," he said finally, as if that were the closing argument for everything. He got up and tossed the knife into the trash. "I don't want to own anything that hurts my friend."

Atem, smiling, got up and took Yugi's hand. "Thank you. Now, back to the couch, Yugi."

Yugi pouted. "But I don't want to go back to the couch. I've been there for two days! Look, I'm feeling much… much…" He sneezed violently into the crook of his arm and began to cough.

"Much better?" Atem asked, chuckling. He put his arm around Yugi's shoulders and led him back to the living room. "I'm your older brother, remember, so it's my job to take care of you. Now lay back down and I'll get you some orange juice."

Yugi bundled himself in the covers again, and Atem came back with a cup full of orange juice. Atem set it down, leaned over, and gave Yugi a brief sniff. Yugi smiled, taking a sip of his juice. "A-okay?" he asked, as he liked to do when Atem sniffed him like that.

"A-okay," Atem replied, smiling. And for the first time in two months, Atem truly believed that everything was going to be a-okay.


End file.
